One in five people in the U.S. will develop skin cancer by the time they are 70, making it the most common type of cancer.
Statistics show fair-skinned people are more likely to develop skin cancer, but people with darker skin are more likely to"Excess sun exposure can lead to skin cancers of which melanoma is one," said Dr. Andrew Pecora, an oncologist at the Hackensack University Medical Center. More than two people die of skin cancer every hour in the U.S., and though doctors see melanoma more commonly in people with fair skin tones, that doesn't mean people with darker skin tones cannot get it.
Even though they have a lower risk of getting skin cancer, by the time most African Americans get a diagnosis, it has already spread to other parts of their body.